Game Over: 3 Common Mistakes in Gamification

It sounds like a no-brainer: Getting learners excited about training by throwing in a game-based element. But just because you offer something other than Powerpoint doesn’t automatically mean gamification will be a success. Just like any other training method, learners can lose motivation and you could end up shelving your efforts. Want to avoid a total game over scenario? Nix these three common mistakes out of your design.

Long-Term Competition

When it comes to gamification, you want to drum up a lot of interest from your learners, so you might plan an organization-wide competition. The problem? If you create a competition that is too large in scope, you’re bound to motivate those at the top of the leaderboard, but you’ll probably lose those who are consistently on the bottom, without any chances to move up. Instead, plan on short-term competitions in a variety of applications, and create a leaderboard that resets after a week or so to give everyone a fair chance.